


Hold On And Stop The Bleeding

by Nihonkikuasa211



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: Angst, Brothers, Episode Tag, Gen, Major Character Injury, Past Drug Addiction, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 14:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8165513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nihonkikuasa211/pseuds/Nihonkikuasa211
Summary: Angus reflects on his words and of how much Mike means to him as he stays by his brother's bedside.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The words at the end were directly inspired by the first episode of the season. I liked it more than I thought I would, and hopefully, I will be able to post stories in the future.

_Hold On And Stop The Bleeding_

 

              It felt wrong seeing Mike in a hospital bed. His head was bandaged. Somehow the monitors beeped to tell the second year resident that his brother was alive. Angus Leighton was struggling not to scream.

              Malaya told him that the army doctor saved his brother’s life. Still drowning in anxiety and anger at what had happened, Angus had pointedly ignored the gentle nudge his friend was trying to convey to him. _“It’s your fault.”_ The resident took a deep breath and palmed his growing stubble. Guilt gnawed at him, a sharp pain grinding through his skull at the thought of what he had said to the doctor that had done everything he could to save Mike.

              _I am such an ass._ Angus sighed deeply through his chest and put the eartips of the stethoscope again to listen to Mike’s vital signs. A year ago, Angus hadn’t even the balls to put a chest tube on his own. Malaya was his first friend because he was timid enough to only come near her calm expertise and kindness. He felt like a kid, wandering in a world that he didn’t understand. A person too clumsy and stupid to be a doctor. _Why now, am I acting so…?_ Mike had always supported him. Even when his older brother was their father’s golden child, Mike had never allowed him to forget that he had merits too. That he was worth more than their father’s time. From reading him stories a young child and tucking him in at bed at night when their parents were working late, to graduating from medical school and applying to Angels, Mike had never allowed him to forget of what an amazing little brother he was.

              Mike had fallen more than twenty feet. It was only through the fast-thinking of the army doctor, Dr. Ethan Willis, that his older brother was still able to breathe on his own and in a medically induced coma. Angus concentrated on his brother’s vital signs. It was only thanks to Mike – and Mario, that he had gotten clean. The second year resident hadn’t been a ray of sunshine then either. Telling Mario to back off when his friend knew something was wrong. Angus had cried himself to sleep many times at the memory of how he treated the Mario, and of how he could have truly killed someone if the darker-haired resident hadn’t told anyone. Of how something was wrong with the formerly kind and sensitive resident.

              Mike had paid for everything. Angus still saw his therapist every week, and he remembered Mike’s blinding smile when the younger Leighton told his brother that he was at last feeling better. Only Mario had known of the details of Angus’ recovery. It had taken a lot – a lot of late calls and conversations with both brother and friend to get where he was now. _I never thanked them._ Angus counted to three and gazed at the unconscious form of his brother. _Either of them._

A hard lump appeared in his throat at the thought.

              Mike could have easily died; he could have bleed too fast for Dr. Willis to find in time; could have suffered a catastrophic cerebral hemorrhage, or broke every bone in his body and caused massive internal bleeding that had caused one of the victims of the shark attack to die –

             Angus felt the crushing sadness overwhelm him. What did happen, what _could_ have happened – for a moment, he allowed himself to feel every bit of anger and agony he had since Angus had heard that Mike had fallen from the helicopter. _Think of something good, Angus._ His therapists’ words echoed again in his mind. _When you feel overwhelmed, think of something that makes you happy. A calm, refreshing feeling._

              It was when he was seven years old. Mike was ten, tall already and just beginning to think about science. Angus was as timid and as heavy as he had been, and his child self remembered of how he watched his older brother speak with excitement about the upcoming field trip that his class was going on. Back then, Angus’ world had revolved around his older brother. He was everything he wanted to be when he got older, and everything Angus was not.

              “You’re still all I want to be when I grow up,” Angus spoke softly with a faint tremor in his voice. “So don’t die on me.”

              “Please…Mike.”


End file.
